This claustrophobic thriller is loosely (and I mean very loosely) linked to the events in the original Cloverfield movie but, instead of being a sequel following on from the plot of the first film what this movie does is take a different angle and give tons of suspense and tension in a throw back style very reminiscent of something Hitchcock would have created so instead of exposition through dialogue we get subtle hints to point towards who people are and more importantly why the situation has arisen. I would recommend that you try and know as little as possible before watching this movie but I have to give some details in order to carry out this review so I will keep it to the point and will not give anything away.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Michelle, who we see packing her bags, taking off, leaving her fiancé and hitting the road. She is involved in a serious car accident and when she wakes up is locked in a room where her captor Howard (John Goodman) advises her that he has actually saved her after coming across the accident just before the ‘event’ occurred. So he has brought her to his underground Doomsday shelter which he had built specifically for a purpose such as this. He believes they will be trapped there for an undetermined period of time until it can be established what has actually occurred above ground. Along for the ride is Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.) who helped Howard build his shelter and came running as soon as the event occurred.

That’s as much as I’m going to say as what then commences, is a cat and mouse game where Michelle needs to try and establish who is telling the truth and what has actually happened, all the while fearing for her safety from not only what has occurred above ground but from these two strangers she is trapped with below ground as well. The novel thing is that, while she is our central focus in the movie and we only ever see and hear any new information as she does, she is not some dumb damsel in distress. She is smart, manipulating and is not willing to lie down and just accept her situation but the key to the whole film is Goodmans superb performance as a man who has been seriously impacted by the event and swings from mood to mood so believable that you are never sure which, if any, of his actions are genuine.

Overall it’s a clever movie as it doesn’t hold your hand and lead you through the story, it keeps you guessing and second guessing as it drip feeds you snippets of information and let’s your imagination do the rest. The one issue I would have with the film is that there was actually no need to attach the Cloverfield label as it would have worked just as well without it, although it was a very clever marketing ploy to do so and build the hype up, but in saying that forget anything you may or may not have liked about the original Cloverfield film as they are two completely different movies and enjoy this for the tense thriller that it is.

DJ Speaks Rating: 7 out of 10